Hosiery-drying form



Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

UNITEDsTAi-Es ARTHUR KERSHAW, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, .ASSIGNOR IO PHIA METAL DRYING FORM coMPANY,*QF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A`

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

nosIEnY-DRYING FORM.

Application led March 19, 1927. Serial No. 176,618.

The ordinary hosiery drying form, whether of the hollow steam-heated or hotair-heated type, or of the solid electrically heated type, is relatively wide andthin, like the older wooden board, and more or less tapered at the edges. VJ-hen the wet stock-- ing is placed on the form, it assumes a shape thereon closely approximating that which it is desired it shall have when finished and y exposed for sale; that is,its wider dimension is between about the center of the front and the center of the back of the leg and between the top and bottom of the foot.

When full fashioned stockings are boarded on these forms, preparatory to drying, and duringv drying, there is pronounced tendency toward distortion, theweb in the heel of the stocking tending to slip or turn around the heel of the form toward the leg; to obviate which requires much care and skill on the part of the operator. j

The object of this invention is to so modify the form that this slippage cannot occur to any substantial extent. The object is accomplished by' providing means, preferably an offset, in the bottom edge of the form, at

about the junction of the heel and foot sections of the form, which will not obstruct the drawing of the stocking over the form, but which, after the stocking has been properly positioned on the form, will, by its engagement with the web, offer sufiicient resistance to prevent further slippage of the web at this point and thereby prevent the turning moveinent'of the stocking heel upon the heel of the form.

The invention will be better understood and its operation will be clearer by reference to the following description, supplemented by the drawings, in which Fig. l is aside elevation of a form embodying my invent-ion and which is shown in the inverted position that it occupies when in use.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section through the form on the line 2-2 'of Fig. l.

The form comprises the leg portion a, the heel portion b, the foot portion o and the toe portion d. These portions of the form merge one into another and form an integralwhole; v

the division into sections being a convenient assumptlonto aid in the description.

In Y the usual seamless stocking the web forming the heel is a continuation of the web of the rear of the-stocking leg and the courses of knitting extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body of the foot, while the knitting courses inv the web forining the body ot the foot extend around the foot. These two webs are united by a Vgore or seam ze, which extends, on each side of the foot,upward from the front of the bottom of the heel in a direction nearly parallel to the axis of the leg.' It is extremely desirable that this gore shall occupy and maintain this position during drying. a'nd'iinishing. Y

In the ordinary drying form, however, during boarding, the web tends to turn or Vtwist about the heel in the direction of the arrow, thereby distorting the heel and swinging the gore x away from its normal position. This tendency is especially pronounced during the downward pull on the stocking to stretch it tightly on the form.

In my invention this tendency is counteracted by providing means, preferably an offset in the bottom edge of the form` at about the junction of the heel and foot, and on approximately the line which it is desired that the gore :c shall occupy when the stocking is being dried, which offset engages the stocking at or near, and usually at, the gore, when the stocking has been drawn onto the form, and prevents further movement of the web in the direction of the arrow. Any further pul'l of the stocking will therefore operate on the web. in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of extension of the gore, instead of in a direction thattends to turn it around the heel, thereby maintaining the stockingV in perfect shape on v the form, and so that, when stripped therefrom, it retains that shape. K

The offset shown is both a projection and 'an indentation, but its operativeness is not dependent on any one `specific shape.k The offset shown is especially effective and comprises a shoulder e which faces toward the toe of the form and by engagement'with the gore acts as a stop to further movement of the web toward the heel of the form.

While the form shown is an internally steam heated dryingform, the, invention is not limited in its application to this specific c type of form. Y

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